More Courage/Less Fear

This summer's Youth Works theme is "More Jesus, Less Me," from John 3:30. Every day during devos and group time we're focusing on ways we might make that happen in our own lives. Today was about setting aside those fears that hold us back -- like meeting new people, mixing with kids from the other church, or ministering to people different from us -- and being strong and courageous for Jesus. It was cool watching the kids bless each other with the words "Be brave!" before we headed out to our ministry sites this morning.

We spent the evening walking around downtown Rapid City. It's known as the "city of presidents" because of its proximity to Mt. Rushmore. Tonight we checked out the 38 bronze president statues downtown. The church is on the edge of the charming, tourist-y section of downtown. There are lots of boutiques, galleries and restaurants, and it was fun to walk around and check them out. But there's also a significant homeless population in Rapid City. Before we headed out the YouthWorks staff gave us advice on how to react if any of them asked us for money, cigarettes or alcohol. It was a reminder that no matter how nice things look on the surface, things are usually more complicated than they appear.

One interesting aspect of downtown is called "Art Alley." It was created a few years ago in response to a growing problem with graffiti on downtown buildings (including the church where we are staying). It was striking to see the burst of color and creative expression along more than a city block's worth of walls. A couple of our kids even identified the artistic talent as where they saw God present today.

Samantha S., Ann Marie R. and Sarah N.

Mitch L. says this isn't like any alley he knows of in Pine Island.

Do you see our theme? The YouthWorks! staff added this to Art Alley at the beginning of the summer.